Might Last a Day (Minus Forever)
by sometimesalwayz
Summary: At 25, Kyle Broflovski thought he had his life all planned out. He was living in Denver with Stan with a nice apartment and a decent job. Suddenly, his world is turned upside down when Stan breaks up with him and he loses his job. Now he's back in South Park, living with his parents. Enter Eric Cartman, who has always gotten under Kyle's skin as a kid, and is about to do so again.
1. Introduction

Hi there!

So this is a story I wrote and published on a different website quite a while ago. I decided I was so proud of it that I wanted it on here for more people to see. Enjoy chapter 1!

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><p>Kyle Broflovski thought he had his life all planned out. He worked at a brokerage firm in downtown Denver, a job he mostly liked, respected, and took seriously. He was one of the youngest employees, and he felt proud of that fact, of their trust in him, and the knowledge that he was good at what he did. At twenty-five years old, he was making decent money, and living with a boyfriend who also happened to be his life-long best friend.<p>

He and Stan finally got together in college after dancing around the issue since they were fifteen or so. They went to the University of Denver, while Wendy chose New York; she and Stan had tried to make it work for a period of time but eventually things fizzled out and died. By sophomore year, Kyle found himself spending more time in Stan's dorm room than his own, which was nothing unusual except instead of playing videogames they were making out in front of the TV.

By junior year, they'd gotten a single room together, and everything was exactly as it had always been, minus Stan's fucked-up, angsty period. Only now they were having sex with each other on regular basis. After graduation, it was silently decided they'd live together. They both had money saved from part-time jobs, and rent was rather reasonable in Denver, especially for two roommates.

Thanks to two internships during college, Kyle got placed in a brokerage firm not long after graduating. Stan, meanwhile, found his dream job: an environmental group who lobbied for green energy and funding for the local aquarium.

After nearly five years of living together, he and Stan had fallen into patterns; Kyle supposed they went through cycles like any other couple. They had their share of fights, but they were tame, uneventful, and usually solved before dinner or bed. Their parents would come out to visit them, mostly as an excuse to get out of South Park, where Stan and Kyle rarely went back. Kenny worked at a local garage in town and had a different girlfriend every few months, all of whom he invited to live with him. Stan joked it was just for the rent, and Kyle would say that's not a bad reason, which would lead to a fight about living together just for convenience. This was usually their main fight, along with Kyle being too into his work or his computer.

For the past few months, Kyle had been incredibly busy with work. He'd also become rather obsessed with Twitter and Tumblr, but Stan hated all things social networking; he'd come home and find Kyle on the couch with his laptop on his legs and look at the machine as if it was the plague, which would piss Kyle off.

"Can you plug my power cord back in?" Kyle would say.

"I'd like to throw your cord in the fish tank," Stan would reply. Kyle just rolled his eyes.

He didn't really take any of it seriously at first. But eventually Stan started to complain, "Is it too much for you to get up when I come home?"

"Dude, I totally said hello."

"Whatever, Kyle, I might as well not even be here."

And that wasn't fair. So Kyle had different interests. So he loved posting film posters to Tumblr and reblogging photos of awesome bookcases. So what if he had a few "online friends" he liked to talk with about film and music. Kyle always liked seeing things, knowing things, and he thought Stan understood that.

A few times after that, Stan flat out said to him, "Can you just... pay a little more attention to me while I'm here." Kyle had been on his headset at the time with a client, trying to convince the man to invest in some stock while multitasking on Twitter.

"This is business, Stan," he whispered.

Stan mumbled back, "It isn't always business."

Afterward, Kyle made a promise to not stay online all the time. He knew he definitely succeeded a few nights. He closed his computer down before Stan came home. He didn't multi-task when they watched their shows together or a film. Stan was appeased but then he lapsed back and Stan complaining again. He'd tried again, more recently, nearly deleted his Tumblr account too. He'd thought he was doing better. So he gave it another go and thought he'd been doing a little better recently. He was apparently wrong.

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><p>Sorry its kinda short but it's hardly started. It's mainly Kyman so get ready for that to kick in very soon!<p> 


	2. Falling apart

Kyle knew what to expect, day in and day out, and that was fine by him now; he thrived on it. He'd had enough chaos and craziness in his adolescence to last him a lifetime. He wouldn't be taking any impromptu trips to Peru; there would be no last minute flights to Somalia to rescue his brother from pirates or following a weird man with a top hat into Imaginationland. Kyle had seen and done more things than most people have in their entire lives. Leaving South Park meant leaving bedlam and disorder. And he was fine with that. Perfectly fine.

Therefore, naturally, a cruel irony had to disrupt his cozy living on a ordinary day in September when Stan came home late with a look on his face that said something was definitely wrong.

"Are you okay? Did someone die?"

"No. Listen, Kyle, we have to talk."

And in that moment, Stan didn't need to say anymore. Kyle knew it just as sure as he knew Eric Cartman hated Jews; Stan was ending it.

He could have blurted out "why?" but he gave Stan the courtesy of saying it the way he undoubtedly rehearsed. They sat on the couch, a few feet apart.

"Look, Kyle... we've had some great times.. but lately, these past few months, I haven't been feeling the same way. And you... I just feel you're somewhere else. You're always doing work on your laptop, always have that damn headset on even when we're watching a game, making deals, worrying about your client's lives more than ours."

"I'm making us money!"

"Well, what about the times you're not working and staring at the screen lost in your social networking world?"

"Excuse me for having interests, Stan! Jesus, didn't we already deal with this?"

"You ignored me! That's all you fucking do is ignore me!"

Kyle flinched. "That's not- "

"Come on, Kyle, don't deny it. If I asked you what cause my job was working for right now, you probably couldn't even tell me. If I asked you the last time we had sex, you'd probably have to consult a calendar."

And the sad part was, deep down, Kyle knew Stan was right. He'd fallen into a pattern of comfort with someone who was and always would be his best friend, and he thought that was enough. Kyle knew he loved Stan more than he'd ever loved anyone, but he didn't feel the way the movies told him he should feel. Kyle wasn't sure if that had something to do with Stan specifically or if that was just how he'd loved in general; after all, he didn't really have much else to base it on besides a few fumbling handjobs during freshman year, which most certainly did not constitute as love.

To be honest, he was rather surprised Stan had the balls to do this – he was passive until pushed. Kyle wondered what it was that caused his breaking point.

"So... that's it, then?" Kyle asked, though it wasn't really a question. He met Stan's eyes and saw regret, sadness, remorse.

"You're my best friend. The rest just isn't working right now. Maybe it will again some day. I don't know."

Kyle snorted. "If you expect me to wait around for you, you're crazy."

Stan laughed. "No, I don't. That's one of the reasons I love you."

They locked eyes again and the impact really began to hit him. "Love you, too," Kyle said.

Then they were hugging. Kyle squeezed his eyes shut and pressed his face into Stan's neck. They broke apart and Kyle pulled out a pen and paper, writing down his financial situation now that it'll just be him in the apartment. He couldn't help it, he was practical as fuck and even though his heart is mostly breaking, he still had to live.

Stan slept on the couch that night. The next day he told Kyle he'd be moving in Kenny.

"What about his girlfriend?"

"Long gone, man."

"Why did I even ask?"

"I'll pay my half of the rent for the rest of this month... and uh, we'll figure out splitting up our phone service I guess."

"Yeah. Sure."

Kyle split up their DVDs; they debated who really owned the Terrance and Phillip seasons and Stan traded Kyle I Love You Man andForgetting Sarah Marshall for Sunshine. Kyle mourned the loss silently, but gladly accepted his Jason Segel films.

Another debate was the fish. "I'll take them, I guess?" Stan suggested, and Kyle let them go, seeing as Stan took care of them anyway.

Kenny helped Stan move out that Saturday, holding up his hands to Kyle while he said, "I'm not taking sides, okay? Can this not be a thing where I have to choose one of you?"

Kyle patted him on the back. "It's cool, dude. We're fine, seriously." And they were - the night before they talked some more and decided they weren't going to let this ruin their friendship.

"Our relationship was seriously just an extension of that anyway, right? Take away the sex and what do you have left - just us," Kyle said, and Stan agreed wholeheartedly. They already had plans to go to a concert on Monday and bowling Thursday. It was like nothing had really changed - except for the fact that Kyle had really gotten used to living with someone.

After Stan was moved out, Kyle wandered around the apartment. It looked too empty. Nights were even weirder without a warm body next to his; although to be fair, he usually crawled into bed after Stan was already asleep, and cuddling had stopped long ago. Kyle would have gone on living that way for the rest of his life - it didn't feel wrong to him. He loved Stan, Stan loved him. So maybe things weren't perfect, maybe there wasn't a lot of excitement or passion - but there was comfort and security and Kyle didn't really care about much else. That was where he and Stan differed - Stan wasn't willing to except the status quo and Kyle always knew that. He probably should have seen this coming, but even though the signs were there he thought everything would end up being okay.

It was perhaps the world's most amicable break-up. They went to the concert together and it didn't feel like much had changed, except Stan's hands no longer found their way around Kyle's waist and Kyle didn't buy drinks for the both of them.

Life went on, and Kyle threw himself into work, but managed to keep hanging out with Stan and Kenny. Their apartment was a typical bro-pad, complete with a piled up empty beer cans, pizza boxes on the floor, and dishes a mile high. Stan wasn't exactly the neatest person when living with Kyle; he never changed the toilet paper roll, never put his dishes in the sink, left wet towels on the back of the couch, and had some type of phobia of folding laundry. Not to mention Kyle needing to yell at him to wash his hands after going to the bathroom like he was a child. He never did forget that day at the waterpark; he learned far too many cringe-worthy things about Stan that afternoon.

Naturally, over two months later, just as Kyle was adjusting to living alone, the universe decided to throw out another "fuck you." Kyle knew the economy was going to shit, but he didn't expect it to happen so quickly. His boss called him into his office and informed him the company was downsizing; Because of his age and lack of seniority, Kyle was the first to go.

Kyle packed up his desk, his mind reeling in terms of options. He met Kenny and Stan at a local bar and buried his face in his hands for most of the night.

"Jesus, dude, I'm so sorry. You can...come live with us?"

Kyle raised his head long enough to roll his eyes at Stan's words. "We just stopped living together."

Stan held his hand up in apology. "You're right, sorry, I just. God, this fucking blows."

"Yeah, this fucking blows," Kenny repeated, though his eyes were already scoping out a chick across the bar. Kyle would expect nothing else.

"I don't really have much saved... not to pay the rent for very long, anyway. And unemployment will probably only cover half, so..."

Stan winced and Kyle looked away, not wanting to see his pity.

"So there's really only one option right now, until I find something else."

"Oh God, no."

"Do you think I want to, Stan? I haven't got a fucking choice."

And that was how Kyle Broflovski found himself back in South Park and living with his parents.


End file.
